Computer data storage refers to components, devices, and/or recording media used to retain digital data for periods of time. Various types of computer data storage exist, including memory devices (e.g., semiconductor storage), such as random access memory (RAM) devices and read only memory (ROM) devices, and mass storage devices, such as optical discs and magnetic storage (hard disks, magnetic tapes, etc.), and further types of storage.
A particular computer data storage implementation may be associated with a single computer or may be shared by multiple computers. For instance, a computer system that includes multiple computers may share a large persistent data store (e.g., a logical service) that is accessible over a storage network. The persistent data store may include a large number of independent storage units, including an array of hard disk drives and/or flash memory devices or other types of computer data storage. Data may be stored in the data store in various ways. For instance, in one current technique for storing data, multipage units of data may be stored in a data store in the form of “stripes.” A set of storage units that is used to store data stripes may be referred to as a “stripeset.” Stripesets that store data in the form of stripes enable relatively high performance and high availability of access to stored data.
Allowing multiple computers to independently write stripes to a stripeset can be difficult to manage, however. For example, total ordering and consistency are difficult to guarantee.